No, this isn’t about the supersonic technology that I discuss from time to time. I’m referring to the fact that it doesn’t seem to be available for Linux. I’ve been using a Fedora workstation in lieu of my broken Windows box, and that seems to be the biggest deficiency. Many, many sites, including PJTV, are unviewable from Linux due to the fact that Adobe doesn’t seem to support it. There are claims that it can be ported via Crossover, or by using Wine, but I haven’t had time to try. This would seem to be a pretty big hole in the Linux desktop. How are the netbooks handling it?
10 thoughts on “No Shockwave”
Comments are closed.
I can watch some of the videos by choosing the Flash player, but the main stuff, nope. By going to the video player diagnostics page, we find that their player is some weird combination of Java and some propietary stuff. No mention of Shockwave, however, so I dunno where the problem lies.
But…um…anybody who relies on two (Java + Shockwave) or maybe three (Java, ActiveX, Shockwave…) technologies to stream video when (for example) Youtube doesn’t, is a Grade A idiot.
I wouldn’t buy stock in PJTV.
The flash player should work okay with linux. I have used it regularly from my 64bit Fedora system and never had a video refuse to play. I tried the advanced player and got redirected to some help/support page.
It looks like you need both activeX and Java for windows support, but just java and a recent browser for Mac. No idea why they can’t support linux then, just lazy I guess.
The answer, I guess, is nobody with a netbook cares about PJTV. Keep in mind that Youtube works, Nico-nico works, Liveleak works. Heck, Crunchyroll works, and they stream full-size H.264 streams. It’s just PJTV being retarded and outsorcing to some useless CDN (Vividas, apparently). They are afraid of people scraping their precious conservative videos of the FLV streams.
Also, some netbooks ship with XP. I got my wife an Asus 900HA with XP SP3. Linux on netbooks only makes sense if a) you’re Linux oriented or b) you are really, really, really cheap and want one of those colorful, $280 ASUS 2G/4G models with 16GB SSD. The one I bought with XP was something like $378.
Well, Pete, it also makes sense if you want a rock-solid platform that Just Works(TM) with an extremely fast boot time and the world’s fastest IP stack, plus just about zero chance of being infected with spyware, adware, and trojans.
But, yeah, other than that — oh, and the 10 gig or so needed for an XP install, and the unbelievable four-hour pain of a reinstall, should you need one — I don’t see any reason not to go with a Windows system. Snicker.
I never watch PJTV but I’ve gone to other sites with Shockwave stuff via my laptop which is running Ubuntu and they seem to work fine. I’m just getting back into Linux after a nine-year hiatus so a lot of this stuff is still new to me.
Virtualization is another option: Sun VirtualBox.
My Ubuntu netbook (using Firefox) generally shows me anything I want to see except the weather radar loops on the NWS website. Fact is, my main gripe with web-surfing via Ubuntu is that Firefox is really choppy even on a desktop PC, but every other browser I tried was even worse.
Yeah, I’ve had some trouble with Firefox on Ubuntu, especially with sites that are running a lot of ad programs along with Youtube embeds.
Carl: XP for Netbooks fits on 8 gig SSD drives with room to spare.
And, on a netbook? Speed of the IP stack doesn’t really matter.
(For that matter, it doesn’t really matter for any non-server use, in my experience, in that all modern OSes are more than fast enough.)
(Windows does a much better job of “just working” with websites than Linux + Firefox, in my experience.
And let’s just assume, arguendo, that both you and Rand are smart enough to not run random trojans or run as an Administrator uselessly, thus making that a non-issue.)
EIGHT gigabytes? And you consider this small? Lordy, I can boot Linux off a 3.5″ floppy.
I’m mystified by why you don’t think the speed of the IP implementation matters on a computer you mostly use for networked use. In my experience, most Windows machines can’t even make use of an uncluttered cable modem or T1 connection, because of the kludge that is the WIndows network suite. As a rule, my Linuces transfer stuff two to three times faster than similar Windows machine. Does that matter? Well, to me, yeah. I’m impatient. If I click on X, I want it finished, formatted, and displayed before my finger leaves the RETURN button.
Windows does a much better job of “just working” with websites than Linux + Firefox, in my experience
Probably so, since people design websites for Windows. But I wasn’t talking about that. I was talking about things Just Working when you use different hardware, or the system ages and needs updates, or there’s a security hole, or you want to install some piece of software that needs about five different third-party support libraries, or you want your friend who knows 5x more than you to jack in remotely and help you with something. Or you want to run a little server or VPN for small-business/large-family purposes, or connect to the ‘net without worrying about poison flowing in from the nasty world outside.
My kids run Windows machines, because they Must Play Games, and of course I administer them. They’re about 20 times more trouble and expense, over time, than my own Linux machines. Blech.
And let’s just assume, arguendo, that both you and Rand are smart enough to not run random trojans or run as an Administrator uselessly, thus making that a non-issue.)
Gee, SIggy, maybe you know something I don’t, but my experience up to XP is that (1) you can’t, practically, speaking, install and run applications on a Windows machine without being an “Administrator” user, and (2) once you are doing most things as an Administrator, it’s far too easy to accidentally install malware, even if you’re very careful.
From what I know of the way Windows works, which admittedly isn’t that much, the problem is fundamental. The system was just never well designed with clear separation between levels of privilege. That problem was solved long ago with Unix, of course, since it was designed from day 0 (or rather its predecessor Multics was so designed) to be multiuser, and to be perfectly safe even when used by untrustworthy people, e.g. college students.
Maybe Windows 7 is some improvement, I dunno.
I’d be the first to admit Unix has issues, but security and network speed and robustness are all its towering strengths. There’s a good reason Apple abandoned MacOS and went to a Unix kernel.